Norwood Trucker Going To Court Over Ticket

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Trucking business owner Gene Michael Knowlton says while Norwood may be a nice place to live, the village isn't being very business friendly - at least not to him.

That's because he's embroiled in a dispute centering on a controversial 8-ton weight limit on village streets.

"To shut down a county route that connects to the state route, to me, is not a logical thing to do," said Knowlton.

The weight limit has been around for years but has never really been enforced.

Knowlton's trucks use Ridge Street to get to state Route 56 from his River Road location to deliver salt to customers.

Otherwise he is forced to take a 30-mile detour.

He says he deliberately ignored the weight limit last week and was given a ticket by village police for being over the posted legal weight limit.

"We have some federal protections along with some state protections," he said.

While Knowlton says he has tried without success to get the village to upgrade the street, village officials last fall reaffirmed the weight limit after an independent study suggested it would cost upwards of $8 million to rebuild the streets to accommodate truck traffic.

While Mayor Jim McFaddin declined comment on Knowlton's pending case, he did tell us the village has received complaints about overloaded trucks on village streets.

Knowlton says he is anxious to have his case heard in Potsdam Town Court where he is hopeful he can convince a judge that the weight limit, at least in his eyes, is unfair to the point of discriminatory.